A Far Cry From Innocence The Joker
by CertifiedNutso
Summary: After waking up in Arkham Asylum after being kidnapped, Alexandra meets The Joker. A Gotham criminal whom she helps escape. Psycho ex-boyfriends, psycho girlfriends & psycho love-interests. We're all mad here.
1. Chapter One

Alexandra didn't look like much.  
Pretty much like any 19 year old girl you would find in Gotham. She wasn't too tall or too short. She was slim with blonde curly hair which just brushed her shoulders. She had her fathers eyes and no other resemblance.  
Looking at her, you wouldn't think that she was anyone special or anyone who was remotely interesting.  
But she was.  
She was the daughter of the biggest mob boss in Gotham city. Dominic Byyrne. Not that she felt it was anything to brag about. It was just how life was for her.

**8:30am.  
**Yes, walking into that bank nobody would have suspected a thing. And no one ever will.

_**BANG!**_

"Get on the ground! Get on the fucking ground!"

Sliding to the floor Alexandra looked at the terrified bank goers pressing their faces to the floor as men with masks burst through the doors. One man dragged the cashiers over their counters and brought everyone into a group onto the floor whilst the other two held their guns at the hostages.

"_Right, not many people will be in the bank at that time. I want you all in & out _

_fast. Once you're in, get any civilians in a group as fast as possible. I don't want _

_any runaways" _

The tallest of the men, went outside and ushered in two other men who quickly ran through into the back.

"Right!" shouted the tall man, pacing. "I want you all to stay on the ground with your hands where I can see them at all times. No funny business. If anyone so much as breathes loudly I will shoot you, understand?"

A few muffled whimpers came from the group along with a sob from one of the female cashiers. One of the two men cocked his gun forcing a scream out of her. The tall man chuckled. Circling the group, he checked his watch.

_"Briggs, the safe is more than likely going to be guarded by an electrical shock _

_system. Please for the love of god remember your gloves. I don't want to have _

_to drag your sorry arse out of there smoking like last time." _

"_Ha ha, yeah, uh, sorry about that, I won't forget, don't worry." _

The cashier, who had begun shaking, crawled forward slightly towards the tall man, looking up.

"Wha- what are you going to do to us?" she quickly lowered her head back down, regretting opening her mouth.

"Well" began the tall man. He knelt down, pulling her shaking head to his. "If you speak again, I'm going to shoot you in the face." the cashier screamed, promptly wrenching her face from his grip before being dragged back towards him with force. "BUT! If you're a good girl, which I'm sure you will be sweetheart, then I'm not gonna do a damn thing" slamming the woman backwards into the counter the tall man returned to circling the group.  
Alexandra, still with her head on the ground, counted the seconds go by.  
One, two, three, four…

_**BANG!**_

Everyone looked up to see the tall man on the floor, bleeding.

"Fuck! Shit!" Get that motherfucker!" he screamed as the bank manager emerged from his office, shotgun in hand, firing towards him. A hostage tried to make a break for it during the commotion before being shot in the head by one of the masked men.  
No funny business.  
The other shot the bank manager who fell to the floor motionless, quiet.

'Well that wasn't very exciting' Alexandra thought.

Blood was spewing from the tall mans leg whilst he lay writhing on the floor. The crying from the group had gotten louder. Footsteps echoed through the bank as the two men in the back came running into the room, two big satchels each in their arms.

"What the fuck happened here?" asked one of them, bemused.

"That piece of shit shot me!" shouted the tall man, throwing an arm towards the fallen manager "What the fuck does it look like?"

"Alright, alright, lets get out of here, you, grab a hostage."

Alexandra looked up as one of the masked men grabbed her, swinging her around and placing a gun to her head.

"In case you get any ideas about calling anybody." the man stated to the group.  
Looks of pity and grief in their eyes at the struggling, terrified girl in his arms.  
Quickly they all fled from the building, Alexandra was roughly bundled into the back of their van with two of the men.

She looked up at her kidnappers,

"How the fuck did you forget to check the offices David?" she said playfully, shoving him in the arm.

"Look, Alex, I didn't exactly do it on purpose did I?" he said, clutching his leg.

"I know you didn't, moron. Toby, get us back fast so I can stitch idiot here up."

"Right boss." replied Toby, upping the speed on the van.

As they got back Alexandra grabbed a limping David, dragging Toby behind her up the stairs of her fathers manor house.

"You three go tell my Dad how it went, we're going to clean up David."

"Right."

"Fuck!" exclaimed David. "Be careful Alex." she threw him onto her bed.

"Well." she retorted, rummaging in a drawer in the corner of her room, "If somebody hadn't gotten their self shot they wouldn't be hurting so bad would they?"

Alexandra pulled a syringe out from its packet and gave it to Toby along with some morphine to administer. David began slowly to relax, resting his head back onto the pillow, softening his moans. Making another trip across her room, Alexandra grabbed some needle and thread. The wound wasn't deep, barely a scratch. As she began stitching, Toby quickly turned his head.

"Ha ha ha ha. I would not have pinned you as the squeamish type Toby. You used to be a nurse for Christ's sake." she carried on laughing to herself as she stitched away.

"Yeah, well there was a reason why I quit" he chuckled. David raised his head suddenly, staring intently at Alexandra.

"You know, Alex" he slurred "I think I love you." His head fell abruptly back down onto the pillow, followed shortly by a soft snoring. They both began laughing hysterically.

"Oh my god, Toby. How much morphine did you give the guy?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I'm a little rusty. I'm gonna let your Dad know how he is." he began towards the door.

"Alright" she called, "Leave him in here for tonight, I'll sleep in one of the empty rooms."

"Hey Dad. Did the guys fill you in?" Alexandra came walking into the living room of her home, where her father had settled down with a drink for the night. Looking at her father her first impression of him wouldn't be criminal. He was a middle-aged, slightly rounded man. His face was young except for the smile lines lining his mouth and eyes. He was one of the nicest men Alexandra had ever met, but a man's got to do what a man's got to do to feed his family he had once said, and it was something he had never resented.

"Yes they did" he replied "Wonder if the operation could have been planned a little better?" Dominic smirked, looking at his daughter who was visibly offended.

"Hey! There was nothing wrong with my plan. My plan was perfect, David is an idiot." Her father laughed at her, she was always defensive about her work. Though she had right to be, she was the best for the job and she knew it. Since he could remember it was her who was the one who was best at fleshing out every single detail, considering every possibility for every potential situation.  
She made back ups for her plans.  
She made back ups for her back ups.  
She was thorough and precise and that is exactly why Dominic Byyrne employed his daughter this way.  
Alexandra glared at her father, un-amused.

"Give me a drink, I am worn out" she said slumping on the couch.

"Could you do me a tiny little favour first darling?" Darling? Only when he wanted something. It's a good thing she loved him. "Could you take the dogs out? They need their walk" she smiled at her father as she left the room, guess that drink would have to wait for later, if he hadn't already hovered it all up.

The night air was cool on her skin. It had been an eventful day.  
Her mind kept wandering back to the middle aged bank manager and his feeble attempt to defend _his_ money. The man was idiotic, she thought. He couldn't possibly have defended the bank from her group of men single handed and he should of known that.  
She felt sorry for the him, she really did, though she tried not to think about his family and the possible children and grandchildren he might have possessed.  
At least for them the local news would probably have deemed him a tragic hero.

Sweet, sympathetic lies.

Releasing the dogs from their leashes she settled down on a log just to the side of the path she had been walking. It was a quiet night, besides the sounds of her dogs playing. She sat silently, deep in thought listening to her dogs in the field around her.

**SNAP**

She heard it, ever so faintly from behind her. She whirled around fast, her hand quick to grasp her knife from its holder on her belt. Her eyes darted around at an inhuman speed.  
She knew she had heard something.

**SNAP**

Again. Behind her. She turned.

**SNAP**

Someone was messing with her. She could feel their eyes on her. Their laughing eyes. She stiffened, refusing to tremble for their amusement.  
Suddenly, without warning, a hand clasped around her mouth, hard and unmoving. An arm came from behind her, just as quick, holding her arms down. They were rock solid and impossible for her to budge. She wriggled frantically. Remembering the knife in her hand she thrust it as hard as she could into the attacker behind her. He grunted as her knife slipped easily into his flesh before slamming something into the back of her head.


	2. Chapter Two

Alex's body ached all over.

Each twitch and shift of her body shot daggers through her bones. She was beaten up badly.

Groaning, she tried shifting her arms.

Nothing.

Then her legs.

Nothing.

Panicking she opened her eyes to be met with a blinding light above her. She began thrashing and twisting her body to no avail. She was tied down.

Fuck.

Where the hell was she?  
Taking a moment to let her eyes adjust she felt a familiar throb at the back of her head reminding her of what had happened. She remembered being grabbed and hit over the head. That's all, though it felt like there was something missing in between then and waking up which she couldn't quite place. Sitting up as far as she could Alexandra looked around the room. It looked like a hospital room and she was on the bed.  
Did somebody find her? Rescue her?  
Her head ached too much to think straight. _Why the hell would I be tied down in a hospital bed? _she thought.

"Hey there darlin'!"  
A woman, probably not much older than Alexandra, burst into the room as cheerful as could be. A large grin plastered on her face as she looked at the tied down girl. "How ya feelin'?"

Alexandra struggled for words, stunned. It was one thing waking up, tied down in a strange room but who the hell was this ball of sunshine? The girl carried on gawping at Alex, still grinning widely.

"Um.. Uh, where the hell am I? Who the hell are you?" She managed to get out.

"I'm Dr Harley Quinzell, well nurse now, and you're in Arkham. Where else after _that_ little episode?" Episode? What was this girl talking about? Her head ached trying to make sense of it all, irritating her even more than Harley was.

"Arkham?! Why the hell am I in Arkham? And what the hell do you mean by episode? I was kidnapped!" Alex seethed with anger.

"Oh honey I know, I know." Though she didn't really know, "I'll let the Doctor explain everything." She slammed her head back on the bed as Harley turned to leave.  
This wasn't happening, it couldn't be happening.  
She needed to get out of that bed, that room.  
She couldn't be here.

The door slammed shut as Harley left, jolting Alex upright as much as possible. Harley had said 'Doctor' hadn't she? She couldn't possibly mean who she thought. That was impossible. Insane even.

"Hey there Alex" Sounded a voice from the doorway.

Smooth and sure. Slimy and arrogant.

She didn't want to look, as if he would disappear if she didn't. She wanted to be as far away from him as possible.  
But she was trapped.  
Those stupid restraints. She sank as far into the bed as she could, refusing to look up.

"Oh c'mon, don't be like that love. What kind of hello is that after all this time" He sauntered over to her, slowly, resting his hands on the side of her bed. Bringing his head to her face, he whispered softly, almost lovingly

"Why don't you look at me, before I make you."  
Reluctantly she lifted her head and looked straight into his eyes. She refused to show him that she was scared.  
"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it love?" he grinned at her.

"Speak for yourself, Jonathan" She spat back, glaring at him. She hated being this close to him, her skin crawled all over.

"HEY!" he shouted. "That's Dr. Crane to you. Hahahahahahahaha" He was mad. Stark. Raving. Mad. Her bed shook as he laughed hysterically, grasping his ribs with one arm, hunched over, getting closer.

"Why am I here? Doc-tor-Crane" she asked, enunciating each syllable of his name.  
He stopped laughing abruptly, his face stern as if he hadn't been in hysterics milliseconds before. He stared at her for a while before grinning and laughing once again.

"Aw, don't you remember love? You had a bit of an episode" he leaned into her ear, whispering, "But don't worry, we're going to fix you right up here"

"I never had an episode!" she screamed, shoving him away as much as she could with no arms, "It was you wasn't it, I bet it was you, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!"He pushed her down, pinning her back to the bed, pulling a syringe from his pocket.  
Harley burst through the door.

"Doctor! Is everything alright" she started wide eyed at the both of them.

"Everything is fine Miss Quinzell, our new patient here is just.. a little over excited. Please go and make sure her cell is all ready for her arrival" Harley left the room, no questions asked, her footsteps echoing down the hallway.  
Fainter, fainter and fainter until nothing.  
She was alone with him.

He dangled the syringe in front of her face, he leant in close.

"Listen to me and listen good. You have nobody but yourself to blame for your situation you little bitch so you better start dealing with it. You're the one who went psycho in the hospital screaming a load of crap to high heaven so don't-you-dare raise your voice to me" he lowered his voice "Do you understand?"  
This was a nightmare. She couldn't even remember being at the hospital. What was happening? She looked up, holding back tears, whispering through gritted teeth.

"Why was I at the hospital?" For a moment, he said nothing. After a while he began laughing. Not just laughing, hysterically laughing. What the hell was so amusing?

"You were in the hospital!" he yelled, delighted with himself "Because I, I gave you this!" he shoved the syringe to her face, filled to the brim with a viscous, deep green liquid.  
Alex recognised this liquid all too well.

'_Jonathan, when are you going to be home, I'm bored.' he laughed on the other end of the line.  
'I'm on my way love, I'll be there soon''  
Alright, well hurry up''  
You're so impatient Alex' she laughed  
'I know I am, don't keep me waiting'_

She shook the memory from her mind. This wasn't the same man anymore. She wasn't even sure he could still be called a man. He had changed, warped into some kind of monster.  
Or though she would like to tell herself.  
Alexandra knew, always knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, that this was how he had always been.

This was the real Jonathan Crane.

"Why did you drug me? Why can't you just leave me alone?" Jonathan stared at her intently, eyes burning, with what?  
Passion? Desire? Hatred? Or all of the above. Either way, Alex didn't like the way he looked at her.

"Because, love, you gave me this" He lifted his shirt to reveal a small but deep wound in his side. A knife wound.

"You, you were the one who kidnapped me" she let her head drop, looking at the ground, shoulders hunched over quivering.

She was laughing.

"You fucking psycho," She screamed "I should have known it was you. Why can't you just leave me alone? What the hell did I ever do to you?! You bastard!" She lunged at his with as much force as she could muster, trying so hard to break the restraints. She couldn't take it. She thought he was gone, that he had given up. But no, he was just planning, waiting for the right moment.  
She screamed, she cried, she hated him so much. A sharp pain shot through her neck before she began to relax. Everything was going fuzzy and her eyes were heavy, before she fell into a deep sleep she heard him whisper;

"You found out. That's what you did"

Two porters pushed the sleeping girl down the corridor on her bed. It was getting late and most of the inmates were asleep. The lights were dim but still bright enough to be able to see inside the patients cells.

Don't want one of them topping themselves in the night now do we?

The girls cell was on the top floor, the high security unit. Only ever occupied by a few patients, never full. The cells here weren't barred like a prison cell but covered with thick, bullet proof glass.

For the doctors and nurses safety, of course.

Cell number 3. Alex's cell. The porters carefully and quietly opened the cell door, not wanting to wake the other inmates.  
Well, inmate. Cell 9, across the way, occupied by the one and only, the infamous Joker.

"Fella'z" a mans voice droned from cell 9, "This is a fun game, but you know I alwayz win. So what we got today huh? C'mon, throw me a bone here guyzz"  
The Joker wandered to the glass separating him, from the porters. He pressed his bare palms on the glass, staring menacingly at the two terrified men.  
They both looked at each other desperately, willing the other to answer instead of him. Finally one of them spoke.

"No, just some girl. Nothing interesting" His voice shook. They quickly un-strapped Alex and placed her on her new bed before rushing out of the corridor. The Jokers voice echoing through the hospital;

"HahAHahAhahAAhAHaHAhAaaHAhAh haHAhahaHHah!"


	3. Chapter Three

Screams.

There's, there's just screams.

_They're terrified but I can't see! _

_I'm scared, what are they scared of?_

_Why can't I see?_

It's just lights, flashing and blinding her until she is too dizzy to stand straight. Voices scream, shrill all around her, ringing in her ears violently, arms reaching out to grab her tightly.

_Let me go! _

She kicks and punches, her limbs connecting hard with flesh, crunching and squelching as the screams turn angry. But their grip is too tight. She can't get away.

_What are they doing? Let me go! I have to get away, there's something here! _

But what Alex didn't know was that she didn't have to run away from what was frightening everyone around her. Because it was her they were afraid of. Her.

The strange young girl who was dirty with a rats nest for a hair and mud stains over her body.

The girl who's eyes never rested in one place, but darted everywhere like a frightened animal.

Who twitched and shuddered at every sound around her.

The girl who killed three men with the knife she carried in her hands.

She was terrified and alone.

There was warm liquid dripping down her hands, but she couldn't see what it was.

Her body was being pressed forcefully to a cold, smooth floor, aching her bones. She could do nothing but struggle, but she eventually gave that up too.

_I'm scared. I'm scared._

* * *

Alexandra let out a blood curdling scream as she awoke from her nightmare.

Her body, slick with a coat of sweat, shivered enough to cause her arms to goose bump.  
Something in the back of her mind told Alex that it hadn't been just a dream. Everyone had told her about her 'little episode' and she had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her that this was it. The missing piece in her memory.

Sitting up on yet another unfamiliar bed she rested her head on her knees, suddenly feeling sick and tired. Remembering the warm liquid on her hands she thought of the people she had supposedly killed. Though Alex wasn't a stranger when it came to murder it wasn't a pastime she dabbled in often. Her hands felt dirty and burned where the blood may have touched them.

Looking up at her cell she noticed there was no sink. Just four walls and a bed. Becoming more aware of her hands she tried rubbing them clean on her sheets. It didn't help.  
Desperately she rubbed her hands, scrubbing them with the once white sheets. Eyes beginning to water and her breathing becoming forced and ragged, Alex slammed her head back against the wall, frustrated.

_For all you know that was just a bad dream_. She tried to tell herself. _This could just be another of Jonathan's tricks, he wants you to feel like this, don't give him the satisfaction!_ She couldn't help but feel that she was lying to herself.

Sweet, sympathetic lies.

Calming down, Alex began to become aware of the back of her head. The spot she just slammed against the concrete wall. She slid to the edge of the bed, leaning her elbows on her knees, rubbing the sore spot. _What an idiot._

* * *

"Mooorning sleepy head!" For a moment there, Alex had almost forgotten where she was. But as hard as she tried to forget she was in Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.  
Looking up, she searched the corridor for the owner of the voice. At first she found no one, until a man, in the cell from across the way, stepped into the light. Looking at her.  
It was The Joker.

She had heard stories about The Joker, especially about the scars he possessed on his face. Brutal, angry scars, stretching his face into a mutilated smile. Some say they were given to him from his abusive, alcoholic father whilst others say he did it himself. Why was anyone's guess.  
Looking at him now, his scars were hidden under layers of theatrical makeup, smeared uncaring onto his face. He grinned at Alex, baring his teeth to her, leaning his forehead onto his arms rested against the glass of his cell. He stared at her, staying deathly still as he did so, waiting for her to respond.

Against all odds, Alex managed to choke out a reply.

"Uh, morning" She mumbled. He laughed at her uneasiness. That infamous laugh, almost as famous as his scars. Though it didn't strike fear into her heart as Alex had been led to believe it would by enthusiastic storytellers, it did send chills through her body. It was raw and haunting, she understood why he scared so many people.

For a while, he did nothing but stare, as if sizing up the girl across from him. Taking in every detail. Every flare of a muscle, every curl of her hair, taking in as much information as he could. Alex took the time to do the same.  
He was fairly tall, probably a whole head taller than Alex herself. Instead of wearing hospital garments he wore a light purple, patterned shirt with dark purple pants held up by suspenders. Instead of a tie, he wore the shirt open slightly. As much as she tried, Alex's eyes kept straying to the makeup the strange man wore on his face and the scars which lay beneath it.

It was silent on the high security unit for a long time. Alex and The Joker, both waiting to see what the other had to say. To The Joker's disappointment, Alex had nothing to say, she just wanted to leave.

* * *

Familiar footsteps echoed down the corridor. Growing louder and louder until Alex was greeting with the painfully familiar sickly-sweet smile of Harley.  
The Joker retreated back into the darkness of his own cell, bed springs creaking as he sat down, Alex noted the longing look on Harley's face as she strained herself not to look at him.

"Hey there!" Beamed Harley at Alex, grinning in a way that made Alex worry if she was hurting herself. But she said nothing, she just looked at the young nurse in front of her. "You've got an appointment honey."

Alex mustered up the effort to talk to Harley, who she now noticed had both hands on the handles of a wheelchair,  
"With who, may I ask?" She asked with false politeness. She already knew the answer, and Harley was in for a hell of a surprise if she thought she was going to see Jonathan.  
Harley sensed the hostility in Alex's voice. The corners of her mouth twitched as she realized this wasn't going to be as straightforward as she thought.

"Doctor Crane would like to see you." She replied though gritted teeth, "He was disappointed that your discussion yesterday had to be cut short for _certain _reasons."  
_Oh god, I bet he was_, Thought Alex, laughing to herself silently.

Calmly, she stood up, walking over to the glass separating her from Harley, from everything. Leaning a shoulder against the glass Alex looked at Harley, smiling.

"How do you plan on getting me there Harley?" She said, still smiling. Harley looked puzzled for a moment, unsure how to answer. Wasn't it obvious how she was going to get her there? She hadn't brought a wheelchair just for the hell of it.

"You're going to come in this, silly." She said, motioning to the wheelchair with a nod of her head, laughing slightly to try and decrease the building tension.

Alex shook her head, still smiling. Harley's smile fell from her face as the girl came as close as she could to her through the glass. Staring at her intently, her eyes full of hatred, Alex spoke to her, calmly and yet in a way that shook Harley somewhere deep inside,

"You open that door Harley. Open that door. You'll see what happens." Before Harley could respond, Alex retreated to the back of her cell, as far back as she could get, ignoring the world around her.  
Faintly she heard the echo of The Joker's laugh as Harley scurried, humiliated out of the corridor.

* * *

Alex felt safe in her cell, in her bubble. In her cell she wasn't tied down and if anyone wanted to tie her down they'd have to come in first.

She'd make them wish they hadn't. She'd give them a fight.

* * *

**A/N Is this chapter too dark? I'm a little worried I made Alex a liiiiittle too scary haha.  
It reads good to me but I'm hoping you guys understand why I made her like this in this chapter. I want to get across just how much she hates Crane & how it makes her act.  
I don't know, maybe I worry too much, just review & tell me hahaha**


End file.
